Project

Racial Wealth Gap

Synopsis

Problem: The wealth gap between Whites and BIPOC is astoundingly wide. There are multitude of potential contributing factors. The goal of this report is to explore the data to identify trends and relationships.

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Packages Required:

library(tidyverse)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)
library(scales)
library(plotly)
library(xfun)

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Data Preparation

Data Import

The 10 datasets originally pulled from the Urban Institute and US Census.

Retrievable from this Github Repo.

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lifetime_earn <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/lifetime_earn.csv')

student_debt <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/student_debt.csv')

retirement <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/retirement.csv')

home_owner <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/home_owner.csv')

race_wealth <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/race_wealth.csv')

income_time <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_time.csv')

income_limits <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_limits.csv')

income_aggregate <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_aggregate.csv')

income_distribution <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_distribution.csv')

income_mean <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_mean.csv')

Data Dictionary

lifetime_earn.csv (Source:):

Average lifetime earning by race/gender

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
gender	character	gender column
race	character	Racial group
lifetime_earn	numeric	Lifetime earnings

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student_dept.csv (Source):

Average family student load debt for aged 25-55, by race and year normalized to 2016 dollars.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year of measure
race	character	Racial group
loan_debt	numeric	Loan dept
loan_debt_pct	numeric	Share of families with student loan dept

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retirement.csv (Source):

Average family liquid retirement savings normalized to 2016 dollars.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
retirement	numeric	Retirement dollars

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home_owner.csv (Source):

Home ownership percentage for families.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
home_owner_pct	numeric	Home ownership by race/ethnicity

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race_wealth.csv (Source):
Family wealth by race/year/measure normalized to 2016, with measures of central tendency with mean and median.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
type	character	Type of measure, either median or mean
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
wealth_family	numeric	Family wealth

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income_time.csv (Source):
Family-level income by percentile and year.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
percentile	character	Income percentile (10th, 50th, 90th)
income_family	numeric	Familial income

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income_limits.csv (Source):
Familial income limits for each fifth and top 5% of households by year and race.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
dollar_type	character	Dollars in that year or normalized to 2019
number	numeric	Number of households by racial group
income_quintile	character	Income quintile as well as top 5%
income_dollars	numeric	Income in US dollars, specific to dollar type

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income_aggregate.csv (Source):
Share of aggregate income received by each fifth and top 5% of each racial group/household.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
number	numeric	Number of households by racial group
income_quintile	character	Income quintile and/or top 5%
income_share	numeric	Income share as a percentage

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income_distribution.csv (Source):
Households by total money income, race, and hispanic origin of householder separated by year and income groups.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
number	numeric	Number of households
income_median	numeric	Income median
income_med_moe	numeric	Income median margin of error
income_mean	numeric	Income mean
income_mean_moe	numeric	Income mean margin of error
income_bracket	character	Income bracket (9 total brackets between <$15,000 and >$200,000
income_distribution	numeric	Income distribution as the percentage of each year/racial group - should add up to 100 for a specific year and race

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income_mean.csv (Source):
Mean income received by each fifth and top 5% of each racial group.

Variable Name	Data Class	Description
year	numeric	Year
race	character	Racial group
dollar_type	character	Dollar type, i.e. dollar relative to that year or normalized to 2019
income_quintile	character	Income quintile and/or top 5%
income_dollars	numeric	Income dollar average

Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

Family Wealth Analysis

Average family wealth (1963-2016)
Family wealth a a family’s assets (i.e., savings, real estate, businesses) minus debt.

In 1963, the average wealth of white families was $121,129, which is 6.2 times greater than the average wealth of non-white families of $19,503. In 2016, White average wealth of $919,336 was 6.6 times greater than Black average wealth of $139,523.

Median family wealth (1963-2016)
Average family wealth is more influenced by very rich families and does not represent the “typical” experience. Median wealth—or the wealth of the household at the middle of a distribution—gives the experience of the typical family.

In 1963, the median of white family wealth was $47,654 which is 19.3 times greater than the median of non-white family wealth. White median family wealth was $171,000 in 2016, which is 9.8 times greater than Black median family wealth of $17,409. While the median wealth gap has lessened from 1963 to 2016, and is less than the average family wealth gap, the gap trends has shown to be consistent over time and the disparities remain significant.

Income Analysis

Lifetime Earnings
Those with lesser incomes might find it more difficult to save.

The average lifetime income of a white male is $2.7 million, compared to $1.8 million for black men and $2.0 million for Hispanic men. For women, the disparity in lifetime earnings is less pronounced: the average white woman makes $1.5 million, compared to $1.3 million for black women and $1.1 million for Hispanic women. Part of these differences can be attributed to historical disadvantages that still have an impact on future generations.